Getting Started With A Video Conference | Home | Victoria University of Wellington

Video Conferencing - Getting Started

Here are some general tips and questions to ask yourself as a meeting organiser using VC for the first time.

Can I just run the session from my office or do I need to book a dedicated VC room?
Do I know how to book the VC facility at my local site?
Do I know how the connection will be made (IP or ISDN)?
Who are the organisers at the other participating sites and what is the time difference between sites?
Who are the technical support people at those sites?
Will anyone have any data to present?
Do I have any preferences about how I want my local room to be arranged?

Here are some general tips and questions to ask yourself as a presenter using VC for the first time.

Who is the meeting organiser/facilitator?
Do I want to do anything that might prove difficult in a VC context (eg use a whiteboard, or PowerPoint, move around a lot)?
Do I need to talk anything over with my technical contact?

Setup time: When planning the start time for your VC, please allow a few minutes to allow any technical problems to be overcome.
Audio: Microphones are very sensitive and private conversations are easily picked up and heard by remote participants. This is true whether you are participating from your office or a dedicated room based system. An on-screen-display indicates whether the microphone/s are muted or live.
If you do want to use PowerPoint or some computer based presentation it is always a good idea to send a copy to the participants at the far end via e-mail. That way, if there are any connection issues they will be able to run it separately to the video feed. This can improve the overall quality of the call by reducing the amount of traffic through video conference system.